FINAL UPDATE, MONDAY 1:20 PM: Sorry, Paramount, but our Box Office chart will reflect what we believe is the more accurate three-day gross of Transformers: Age Of Extinction. We are also posting Par’s numbers so we can show the industry how they claimed to have gotten there. See below. Also, it is worth noting that with the accurate grosses, it puts Transformers 4‘s worldwide total at $299.6M. With Paramount’s inflated domestic grosses, it puts their worldwide gross at an inflated $302.1M. But what better headlines to please the bosses and shareholders with: A $100M domestic and over $300M worldwide. The only problem? It’s a public company and there are strict guidelines about this type of thing.

10th UPDATE, MONDAY 9:43 AM:The first big controversy of box office in the sixth months since I’ve been reporting erupted this AM as Paramount Pictures put the final three-day domestic cume of Transformers: Age Of Extinction at $100.038M as its opening weekend for the fourth installment. “They’re lying,” said one distribution head at a major studio. Said another, “I don’t get get it. Is it just arrogance? What is the point of inflating your box office numbers? So they can claim the first $100M movie opening of the year? Oh please, who cares? It’s a great opening anyway.”

That being said, the Box Office Chart below reflects both the industry three-day gross for Transformers as well as Paramount’s purported final gross, which, by everyone’s account in the industry is inaccurate and inflated.

One insider at Paramount with knowledge of the financials told Deadline that there have been concerns that there could be more layoffs if Transformers 4 didn’t hit the $100M mark. So maybe that’s what’s going on. Even so, everyone in town — and I mean everyone — has it much less than $100M. Hey, as one my colleagues just said, the movie itself is inflated to 2 hours and 45 minutes, so why not the box office grosses, too?

One distribution executive put it this way, “Looking at Rentrak, at this time the average for the three-days is $22.964M, representing a total gross for three days of $97.76M. Rentrak collected 97% of the grosses for the three days. In my humble opinion, it would be impossible for $100M to be reported.”

However, despite all other industry estimates that had the opening of Transformers anywhere from $97.5M to $98M+, Paramount is defying the general reporting and stated that they have reached $100.038M. The last time I saw this happen was many years ago and the studio that did it was also called out by others in the industry for fudging numbers — that was Fox with Minority Report.

Another distribution head at a major studio, asked, “What are they doing?” and just laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.

“I don’t care what they report, if they want to lie go ahead. I’d like to lie and say we did better numbers than we did, but I can’t,” said another distribution head. “What they’ll probably do is shave a couple of million off the mid-week number and then pad it out. I do think it’s a little crazy that they are stretching like this.” What that means is that Paramount would under-report grosses a little bit each morning during the mid-week to make up the differences so they have an accurate and correct number down the road. The $100.038M gross will affect the following weekend’s three-day percentage drop also because it will be set against the $100.038M (assuming they report accurately next weekend).

“There was a time you could do this,” said one distribution head at another major studio. “But today, Rentrak is so good and so sophisticated that they picked up everything but about 100 theaters and what they don’t pick up is the little guys. If you take the per screen average and multiply it by the number, it comes to a little over $97M. They are saying that the missing factor on those theaters were three times the national average. It’s not real.”

“I don’t know what they are doing. There is no way they could reach that number looking at the numbers I have sitting in front of me,” said another distribution head at another public company. And therein lies the rub: These are public companies and under SEC guidelines regulating disclosure requirements for publicly-held companies, Paramount must put forth true and accurate numbers to the public and its shareholders.

What does Paramount say to all this conundrum? “We reported our number based on the estimates we received from the theaters this morning. This is our final number,” said a Paramount spokeswoman. $100.038M? “Yes.”

Opening on Tuesday is Tammy, the Melissa McCarthy comedy that her husband Ben Falcone scripted and he directed for Warner Bros. It is expected to have a good opening and likely to hit No. 2 under the second weekend of Transformers. Also opening is Relativity’s family fare Earth To Echo and Jerry Bruckheimer’s Deliver Us From Evil starring Eric Bana for Sony/Screen Gems.

9th UPDATE, MONDAY, 8:30 AM:Despite other reports, Paramount is sticking with its $100M number and that is what it reported this morning: $100.038M.

8th UPDATE, MONDAY, 7:30AM:By all accounts (have not yet heard from Paramount) Transformers: Age of Extinction fell short of the $100M mark and we were right to question it; $97.5M for the three-day weekend looks like the better bet. Still a good number, but that means that not one picture in the first six months of 2014 has crossed the $100M mark. T:AoE remains, however, the biggest opening weekend of the year to date. When will the industry see its first $100M weekend?

7th UPDATE, SUNDAY, 7:32 AM: It appears that Transformers: Age of Extinction ended up with a $31.8M to $32M Saturday which, depending on the percentage decline on Sunday could have it sitting just under $100M. In other words, if it falls only 15% Sunday, it will be $100M and change. However, if it falls more than 15% Sunday, it will not reach that $100M threshold and fall below in the $98M to $99M range. It’s all about the math … er, and the movie going. Paramount, of course, is going with the $100M. They think it will only fall 15% on Sunday. We’ll see. These are public companies so today they can estimate, but the real number must be reported after it plays out today. I, and many others, expect it to be under $100M. Calendar year-to-date at the box office, the industry is still flat with a .9% decrease from this same time last year.

Regardless of the psychology of $100M vs. $99M (or even $98M+) — and of course, the headline across the country is better with $100M estimate in it — it’s a great opening for this film, which is also crushing it overseas in China and other international territories. Its per-screen average is around $23,700K on around 10,000 screens at 4,233 locales. It is the highest opening weekend of the summer and of 2014, both here and abroad and it may break the $300M worldwide after today. In fact, we believe it is the only time in history that a film has opened to $90M+ in the world’s two biggest territories, the U.S. For more about how it’s doing overseas, stay tuned for my colleague Nancy Tartaglione’s international story (refresh for the latest here). Domestically, IMAX played a strong role as well, bringing in a total of $10.7M on 353 screens, marking the second-best June opening only behind Man of Steel’s $13.5M.

All eyes now are on what is expected to be great playability during the July 4th holiday and a continuation of strong openings in overseas territories, including all of Europe and Brazil. “We’re really happy with the film’s performance, and with the July 4th holiday coming next week, it feels like it’s in great shape to continue its success,” said Megan Colligan, Paramount’s president of domestic marketing and distribution. “The filmmakers really pushed it and got this done and what (director) Michael (Bay) accomplished with not only the production — by finishing up a very complicated movie — but being able to balance that with participating in a huge, worldwide marketing campaign and all the things that go into that. It was unprecedented for me to watch someone to do all of that at one time.”

Congrats to all at Paramount, its marketing department guided by Josh Greenstein, its distribution team led by Don Harris, international team headed by Anthony Marcoly and the filmmakers — director Bay, producers Ian Bryce, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Don Murphy, who really deserves the credit, as it was his brainchild many years ago to take a Hasbro toy and make a really cool movie out of it. Well done to all, especially to whomever decided not to screen the movie to the critics until the very end ,as that quashed any bad word-of-mouth getting out ahead of the film.

There is, of course, lots of other juicy box office news:
In their second weekends in release, Screen Gems’ Think Like a Man Too is going to end up falling 64% for an estimated $10.6M weekend, which was not unexpected for this Kevin Hart–starring comedy. And, Jersey Boys, Clint Eastwood‘s realization of the smash Broadway musical biopic, is holding well, with only a 43% decline from the weekend earlier. It’s really the only wide-release, grown-up movie out there right now — well, that along with Jon Favreau‘s Chef (OPRD), which is enjoying its sixth week in the Top Ten after its expansion.

This weekend is also seeing another two films join the $200M club with Disney’s Maleficent and Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 breaking that barrier to join another summer offering – X-Men: Days of Future Past and two earlier released films, The Lego Movie and Captain America: The Winter Soldier — which was the previous biggest opening weekend of the year with $95M+ and just passed The Lego Movie to be 2014’s top grosser so far. Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla remains the only $90M opener that has yet to get over $200M; it sits right at $197M right now. If it doesn’t squeeze out another $3M, it will go down in the record books as the only $90M opener never to cross that $200M threshold. It made roughly $1M (or a little under) in 750 theaters this weekend. As everyone knows, the property is involved in a fairly contentious legal battle between producers.

Gotta step back now and give kudos to Disney for a moment. Maleficent is now at $586M globally, which gives them bragging rights for having two of the top worldwide grossers to date. The other being, of course, Winter Soldier — again, let me reiterate, also the top domestic grosser of 2014 to date (with $257.2M). X-Men and Spidey are the other top worldwide grossers. Hmmm, so Maleficent is the only original, non-franchise pic. That’s a Joe Roth pic — Roth, who revealed last month at the Produced By conference that Disney forgot to invite him to the movie’s press junket. Oops!

Sony/MGM’s 22 Jump Street was No. 2 and is well past the first installment’s lifetime gross; How to Train Your Dragon 2, the DreamWorks Animation family film whose opening once again scared off Wall Street three weeks ago, is still playing well in third place. Its cume is now around $121.7M and it has a few more weekends yet to play before Disney’s animated Planes: Fire & Rescue bows on July 15th. It also has the advantage of being the only animated film out there right now. Here’s the chart:

6th UPDATE, SATURDAY, 10:38 PM: Saturday is down anywhere between 20% and 24% from Friday, which is a bigger than expected drop and puts Transformers: Age of Extinction back to right around $100M or a little under. Either way, Transformers will be the biggest opening of 2014 to date. Saturday is now expected to be around a $31.8M to $33M haul, which places it around $98.6M to $100M+ at the moment. Just finished figuring out the math with different percentages drops on Sunday, and that is the range as it looks like tonight. The opening will beat Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s $95M earlier this year.

Disney’s Maleficent continues to play in the Top Five and is joining Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in crossing $200M this weekend, casting a $3.3M spell from Friday to Sunday. That’s five movies so far this year that have passed the $200M domestic mark — three this summer (with X-Men: Days of Future Past). The other two are The Lego Movie which debuted in February and Captain America: The Winter Soldier which came out during Spring Break in April. Godzilla opened to over $90M this year but has yet to cross the $200M mark. After this weekend, it’ll be sitting at almost $197M. Thinking that Warner Bros. will do all it can to drag the lizard over the finish line, but it’ll be really close.

In the No. 2 spot is Sony’s 22 Jump Street which is on track for a $6M Saturday and a $15M three-day gross to push its cume to $139.4M — which is already past the lifetime gross of the first installment. No. 3 is Fox/DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon2 with a $5.1M Saturday estimate. The animated family pic will bring in another $12.7M in its third weekend of release for a total cume of $121.4M.

Screen Gems’ Think Like A Man Too — in its second weekend out — is dropping like a rock. It’s going to be off about 65% and take in only $4.2M this weekend. The other holdover from last weekend — Warner Bros.’ Jersey Boys — is at No. 6 and is still on target to bring in around $7.5M for a 41% decline from last weekend when it debuted. That is actually a fairly decent hold, but the picture opened so soft that I’m not sure it even matters. Its total gross after this weekend will be around $27M.

Chef, which Open Road has been handling, is enjoying its sixth week in the Top Ten after a platform release. More to come in the AM. Night all.

5th UPDATE, SATURDAY, 6:13 PM:Saturday has played out well so far for this weekend’s big opener, Paramount’s Transformers: Age of Extinction and it is holding on very strongly going into evening and late night showings. The thinking now is that the Michael Bay-directed franchise could gross anywhere between $103M to $105M for the three-day which would put it right between the grosses of the last two Transformer installments’ Friday to Sunday grosses. But that would not be an apples-to-apples comparison as they both opened on Wednesdays and had two more days of play. What a great win for the filmmakers, the studio and its top-notch marketing and distribution teams opened this lengthy, 2:45-minute film. By the way, nice to give out kudos when it’s due. Just wanted to note that this is Chef‘s sixth week in the Top Ten for filmmaker Jon Favreau and its distrib. Open Road Films, which has done a heck of job with this little film. More later as late night numbers roll in.

4th UPDATE, Saturday 7:00 AM: A $41.3M Friday (which includes the $8.75 late nights) estimate means that Transformers: Age of Extinction is headed not only to but past the $100M mark right now which gives Paramount the opening that it and everyone else had been hoping for … now comes the Saturday crowd, but all bets are on that it will make anywhere from $100M to $103M+ for the three-day weekend. That would make it the biggest opening of 2o14, surpassing Captain America: The Winter Soldier which brought in $95M during April’s Spring Break and also the biggest opening of the summer. Welcome news to the industry which was waiting for a summer hit and looking for Transformers to be the one to pass $100M. The per screen average for this monster at the end of the three day (which is on around 10,000 screens) would be $24,300. The momentum is on its side for Saturday moviegoing and with an A- CinemaScore, fans are thumbing their noses at the critics who just ravaged the fourth installment of the Michael Bay-directed franchise.

Distrib Paramount just weighed in, saying it expects a $100M opening; it also shined a light on the demo make-up for the film, showing that its playing best with males and the 25+ age group. The breakdown is 64% male/36% female with 58% 25 and older. It also is doing gangbusters in China and given that it’s on a record-number of IMAX screens in China (with about 150), we’re not surprised; in South Korea not so much. For a full international report, see my colleague Nancy Tartaglione’s story here.

22 Jump Street had more muscle than expected last night for Columbia/MGM’s R-rated comedy, tallying around $5M to take the No. 2 spot. That means it will make around $139.4M through the weekend — to surpass 21 Jump Street‘s lifetime gross of $138.4M. 21 opened in 2012. The sophomore frames of Screen Gems’ Think Like a Man, Too and the Warner Bros./Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys came in as expected (see last night’s reporting). Here’s the chart with estimates for today:

NOTEWORTHY: Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is expected to just cross $200M this weekend after nine weeks in release pushing its worldwide cume to around $704M now. Will Warner Bros. being able to drag Legendary Pic’s Big Lizard across $200M? Godzilla will have a total cume of $196.9M after pulling in another $800K this weekend. Meanwhile, TriStar’s Heaven is For Real profitable pic from filmmaker Randall Wallace will pass $90M. Well done, Mr. Wallace.

3rd UPDATE, Friday, 10:35 PM: Transformers: Age of Extinctiongained strength as it rolled out today into 4,233 theaters and on around 10,000 screens. It is now estimated to have a $40M Friday on track for around a $100M weekend (could be a little under or a little over depending on Saturday). That’s much better news than how it looked earlier in the day. If those numbers hold, the Michael Bay-directed franchise, which is being led by social media powerhouse Mark Wahlberg this time around, would be welcome news for distrib Paramount and the filmmakers and would garner the biggest opening of 2014. It got an A- CinemaScore tonight, despite the bad reviews. The budget — accounting for about $29M+ in production benefits from shooting in Michigan — ended up around $180M net cost with another $143M+ for marketing ww); In addition, director Michael Bay is getting 10% FDG and others like Wahlberg,Steven Spielberg and Lorenzo di Bonaventura getting participations as well. Hasbro is also said to be getting 5%. There’s one producer not mentioned in that list, however, I need to single out.

Producer Don Murphy. Years ago, Murphy and I met for dinner, and after we settled into a booth, he said he wanted to run an idea past me as I knew a lot about licensing and merchandising. (Now, I can’t remember if this was before or after he told me he thought a remake of The Planet of the Apes would be cool and was having meeting about that at Fox). He said he thought a movie based on the Hasbro toy Transformers would make a really cool film, and a possible studio tentpole. He then went on to talk about story ideas for the toys that transform: These monsters would rise up larger than life and wage war against each other while humans tried to get out of their way. As he spoke, it was obvious how passionate he was about the idea and said he was going to try to get the film rights from Hasbro. The prescient producer. Congrats Mr. Murphy wherever you are.

Ah, but I digress, back to the box office numbers: Disney’s Maleficent is expected to pass $200M in what will be its fifth week of release. And Sony finally dragged The Amazing Spider-Man 2 across that same threshold kicking and screaming in 9 weeks of release. Now, for the holdovers: The second weekend of Sony’s Think Like A Man Too which was last weekend’s No. 1, has gone limp with an expected 63% decline. Not at all surprising. However, Jersey Boys is only going to be off 43% after an okay mid-week performance, giving older audiences something to watch besides explosions and carnage. The Dragon with strong legs flies in with a solid No. 3 after playing very well during the week. 22 Jump Street added theaters and that was a smart move to keep it holding better against the monster opening. Here’s how the Top Ten look tonight. Numbers are likely to change in the morning:

NOTEWORTHY: Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is expected to cross $200M this weekend after nine weeks in release.

2nd UPDATE, Friday, 5:50 PM: With matinee grosses coming in on the West Coast and evening shows underway on the East Coast, it looks now like a $38M to $40M Friday for Paramount Pictures’ Transformers: Age of Extinction which puts it on a three-day trajectory of anywhere right now between $95M and as high as $98M to $100M+, depending on how it performs tonight and what kind of Friday to Saturday bump it enjoys. Ah, but the night is young. More to come as the evening and late night crowd comes in and the grosses are more apparent.

1st UPDATE Friday, 12:36 PM: As it stands now, Transformers: Age Of Extinction is looking like a $36M today on track for a $93M to $95M for the three-day gross. As it is still early in the run, we must see tonight how the rest of the day looks and also whether there will be a significant Friday to Saturday bump. For the moment, Transformers is just under Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier which opened to $95M for the three-day after a $37M Friday (during Spring Break, mind you). So it’ll be one of the biggest openings of the year, the question is where it will fall. It’s likely to wedge right near the last two Transformers, less than the last two installments did: $97.8M Dark Of The Moon grossed in its three-day and behind the $108M that Revenge Of The Fallen did in 2009. Captain America had the biggest opening so far this year. Quick snapshot on the other two in their sophomore frames … Jersey Boys is currently down around 77% and Think Like A Man Too down about 89%.

PREVIOUSLY: Friday, 9:18 AM : Transformers: Age Of Extinction heads into the weekend with $8.75M in late-night showings starting at 9 PM on 2,990 screens. Today it opens at over 4,200 locations and on 10,000 screens with a lengthy 2 hour, 45 minute running time. That means, right now, the film is on track for a mid-$90M opening and it would be a surprise if it cracks $100M. If any picture could have opened to $100M, all bets were on this one. If this movie doesn’t break $100M, it could take until November before we see a $100M weekend when The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I opens from Lionsgate. Summer bummer.

So, how does Transformers’ late-night performance compare to other big titles? Right in the middle of the bunch. Take a look:

By the way, Fox may just end up with the highest cume for a summer movie with X-Men ending up somewhere around $235M-$238M domestically in its run. So the Wolverine could end up slashing the lizard and the spider. (Captain America opened in early April).

The good news is that Transformers will continue to crush everything in sight this weekend. And, in fact, unfortunately for the others, other studios are already feeling its wrath. Mid-week grossers have been strongest for How To Train Your Dragon 2, followed by 22 Jump Street and Maleficent, with Think Like A Man Too in the top five mix as well. But last night, Transformers took the air out of every picture. As it should, actually.

The Michael-Bay directed film stars a new cast of Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, and Chinese actress Li Bingbing (smart for the Chinese market, where it is playing on the largest number ever of IMAX screens with 148). It also has the distinction of being the most socially shared movie of the year as Paramount has bombarded the social media universe with a growing list of materials and fans which have delivered by reposting at an earned/owned/ratio of 18 to 1, according to Marc Karzen, CEO of RelishMix, which measures social engagement of the new Big Three networks — YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The official teaser trailer has banked over 18 million views.

The week-long social activity popped on Paramount international YouTube channels with the world premier in Hong Kong earlier this week. Gamer YouTuber channels and cross-over game videos were a big part of the mix with cross-over impressions on IGN, Gameteep and others. The Transformers franchise Facebook page with 31 million fans popped last week as the band Imagine Dragons performed at the world premiere in Hong Kong. But the social activity really began four months ago during the Super Bowl, when a well-spent 30-second spot was the trigger that launched social activity, according to RelishMix.

Add to that, the fact that Wahlberg is one of the leading social stars today, and you have the right marketing mix on social. More to come as Transformers begins its three-day run.

As much as I’m looking forward to seeing Dawn Of The Apes, it’s not going to crack 100 million either it’s opening weekend, this is just one of those years. I can see ‘Apes’ taking in 75-85 million it’s opening weekend, maybe 90 million at best. If ‘Transformers’ fails to reach 100 million this weekend which it’s starting to look like, ‘The Hunger Games 3’ will be the only film in 2014 to reach 100 million it’s opening week, and it’s possible that one could take a little dip if those fans don’t come out in full force opening weekend.

Anonymous • on Jun 27, 2014 1:20 pm

No Apes is definitely going to crack 100 million. Presales have been ahead of transformers 4 by quite a margin. If people aren’t excited for transformers even after rejecting other summer films, its gotta be this one. That or Guardians of the galaxy.

The buzz has been very strong on ‘Apes’ so far and that’s definitely made me think twice about it’s ability to crack 100 million it’s opening weekend, but it still won’t be easy at all for it to crack 100 million. And you can definitely count out GOTG from cracking 100 million it’s opening weekend, that’s definitely not going to happen. GOTG is one of my most anticipated films of the year along with ‘Apes’, but you’ve got to be realistic my friend. ‘Cap 2’ was a very well received sequel a successful first film, therefore it was an established franchise unlike GOTG, and he’s an ‘Avenger’ my friend and still could crack 100 million it’s opening weekend. 60-70 million is what I see for GOTG opening weekend, maybe 75 million tops.

Anonymous • on Jun 28, 2014 8:03 am

Preticket sales for Apes are actually similar to dark knight and hunger games, catching fire. This will easily go past 100 million and could approach 150 million. There’s always one megahit and nothing, even transformers right now, is coming close to 300 million. Apes must be it. If not, then Guardians (don’t know anyone that wants to watch the ninja turtles reboot.)

Why is this movie 2 hours and 45 minutes long? That’s 45 minutes too long. Possibly an hour too long. They are reducing the number of shows per day and night that theaters can run this movie with such a long length. There’s no reason for the movie to be that long. It’s ridiculous and will send people home with a splitting headache. The movie is also getting lousy reviews from fan boy sites. They all now realize what a joke this franchise it. Nothing but mindless noise.

Jake • on Jun 27, 2014 11:08 am

It’s Bayformers. Of course it’s mindless noise. That doesn’t stop it from making gobs of money.

I’m curious if there is a strategy behind the extra long run time. It’s in 4233 theaters, could the strategy be to push more of the competition out of theaters? Would theater owners just put this on more screens to get more showings per day?

Shia Le Butt • on Jun 27, 2014 5:44 pm

You might be right about this, if so it’s very smart. 4,200 theaters and 10,000 screens so most multiplexes that have 12 14 16 18 theaters will show Transformers in 3 or 4 of them maybe 5 or 6 if it’s a large multiplex. But theater owners know that these big movies are only profitable their first and second weekends. Then the next big movie opens and that one gets the most screens.

Marco • on Jun 27, 2014 1:23 pm

It is three films too long actually

Mr. Majestyk • on Jun 27, 2014 2:22 pm

I don’t get it either. THE LONE RANGER was 149 minutes. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 3 was 168 minutes. THE HOBBIT was 182 minutes. Beyond reducing screenings per day, the bloated lengths mean bloated budgets and less profit. It makes no sense. How many mid-budget films could you finance with the savings from cutting the fat off these endless blockbusters?

Alex • on Jun 28, 2014 6:10 am

Since people have to pay so much for tickets and snacks, they may be getting more for their money. If it runs over two hours (and doesn’t suck) people maybe coming out ahead…yes?

Chris • on Jul 4, 2014 9:22 pm

Yeah man, four movies in, NOW the fanboys on the fan boy sites are making the difference! These movies have been a success up until now because of the fanboys! Not the casual movie going audience who love the movies, it’s the fanboys.

I would have thought the failure of internet darlings like Snakes on a Plane would have put a stop to the “what the internet says matters” talk. I guess not.

Anonymous • on Jun 27, 2014 11:30 am

This franchise and US politics have so much in common: “change”, “reboot”, “new this”, “new that”, “we have learned from our mistakes”…. and yet the EXACT same movie rolls out with different looking actors. EXACT same. And all we have to show for it are the studio executives (their bonuses), a douchebag director, a producer with terrible taste and a slew of agents, managers and actors making a TON of money.
Same as the 1% that purchase the ‘promises’ of politics.
But hey, I saw it!!!!!
Go TRANSFORMERS!!!!!!!

Shia La Buff • on Jun 27, 2014 12:13 pm

The movie will flop because I’m not in it! They have no right to make another Transformers without me starring who the hell wants to see Mark Wahlberg in my part?!

MattW • on Jun 27, 2014 1:00 pm

Why are you comparing the Fri-Sun gross of mid-week openers to the Fri-Sun gross of a Friday opener? It just doesn’t make sense. Dark of the Moon and Revenge of the Fallen would have most likely both done over $140 million if they had opened on Fridays.

LA2000 • on Jun 27, 2014 8:47 pm

“Apes” will have the biggest opening of the summer. The word is uniformly positive (to say the least) and I am predicting it will overperform the way “Gravity” over performed once the reviews start coming in.

Reviews almost never move the needle unless the praise is near unanimous and the film has a high level of interest all ready – “Dawn” is benefiting from a lot of goodwill from “Rise” and the reviews will put it over the top.

You could have a point there. Though I’m not so sure about ‘Apes’ having the biggest opening weekend of the year and good reviews normally don’t mean too much with a movie like you we’re saying, but if there is very high praise along with great buzz and anticipation of a film, that could indeed boost the numbers. “The Avengers” is a film that comes to mind, it had great reviews and was destined to open huge, but the great buzz on the film was tremendous and they’re is no doubt that affected the film and probably added a good 30-35 million or so to it’s record breaking 207 million opening weekend. There is nothing close to that arriving obviously, but if the buzz on ‘Apes’ is tremendous like it seems to be so far, it does make me start to think that it can exceed the opening weekend numbers I think it will get. But you have to wait and see, because this is one of those strange years where any film no matter how popular or well received it is will have a hard time getting past the 90+ million mark with the exception of ‘Mockingjay part 1″ of course.

Anonymous • on Jun 28, 2014 1:16 am

Ha! It will do well. But biggest OPENING of the summer? You want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge? I actually own it.

Sir Walrus • on Jun 28, 2014 8:59 pm

You are a very overt troll.

Why when there are comments solely based on transformers do you chime in to hype Planet of The Apes Deuce.

Be real.

Monkeys riding horses and talking is a stretch for even the most open minded fan boy.

Michael Bay or M-Bay as I like to think of him can be summed up in one sentence.

Excluding James Cameron he is the finest action director of the 20th and 21st century.

Such a claim can be solidified by following The Rock, Armagedoon, The Bad Boys soon to be trilogy and every shot in transformers where he is filming his air explosions and a background.

Do you appreciate he is composing sequences in his mind while shooting empty backgrounds and times explosions.

Do you appreciate he elevated robotics in entertainment and the you market for a near decade.

Chris • on Jul 4, 2014 9:17 pm

Rise of the Planet of the Apes had a nearly $55 million dollar opening. With absolutely nothing behind it but a terrible Tim Burton Apes movie years before. Great reviews and stellar word of mouth turned it into one of the surprise hits of the year. Now, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has one successful movie that had great word of mouth and performed well at the box office PLUS the incredible reviews coming out for Dawn. Reviews like the one that say the leap in quality here is similar to the leap from the original Star Wars to Empire Strikes Back. That is INSANELY good praise. If it gets that kind of word of mouth among common moviegoers, it’s easily going to surpass what Rise was able to do back in 2011.

Ashamed • on Jun 28, 2014 12:28 am

Jack Raynor is awful in this movie! How in the world did this kid get this job? He absolutely had no screen presence and his accent was horrendous! He made Mark Wahlberg an Oscar contender, this industry has truly gone to shit.

American • on Jun 28, 2014 8:14 pm

His NATIVE Irish accent was horrendous?

And Mark Wahlberg is an Oscar-nominated actor.

MexyMartini • on Jun 30, 2014 10:00 am

Actually, an accent that ruined a film for me (I am assuming natural) is Copley’s in “Elysium.” My God, the minute her started talking, I started laughing. AND WHAT is it with Jodie Foster’s accent in that film????? So awkward.

17% positive on rotten tomatoes (SIX percent among Top Critics) and people show up in droves like sheep.

Then, folks bitch and moan about why there aren’t more “good” and “original” movies made by “Hollywood”.

The answer lies in the mirror folks.

S4H1 • on Jun 28, 2014 12:25 pm

The people who are going to this movie don’t care that there aren’t any “original” movies. Maybe you should criticize the children’s programming available since the 1980s that has led to people liking these movies…

I’m addressing the millions of folks who DO bitch & moan and STILL show up for this dreck.

S4H1 • on Jun 28, 2014 4:51 pm

Fair enough. It is quite ridiculous that people will pay for their tickets and then leave during the movie. Nobody cares that you left people! You still contributed to the film!

nerdrage • on Jun 28, 2014 1:56 pm

You want an original movie to be a success? In a month, go see Guardians of the Galaxy. Great art it ain’t, but at least there isn’t a number in the title.

BDTrooper • on Jun 29, 2014 9:17 am

I don’t understand why people (most of whom haven’t even seen the movie) complain that a movie is bad and makes a lot of money. It’s one movie. Captain America and the Lego Movie are the two biggest movies of the year, and were both critically applauded. There are no shortage of prestige pictures that come out the latter part of the year, most of which are original, and not sequels. There are movies for everyone, and if people want to see something cool like giant robot dinosaurs for a few weeks, that’s great. The success of Transformers at this point is not going to affect what movies get made. And you still have the Apes movie and Guardians this summer, plus Interstellar later this year, and an amazing 2015 to come.

BD, you obviously have little idea of how the industry works if you think “The success of Transformers at this point is not going to affect what movies get made.”

There is ample evidence to the contrary. Start googling and reading up.

BDTrooper • on Jun 29, 2014 11:17 am

OK, Joe, what effect did the success of the last Transformers have on the industry? Let’s have some examples of movies that were greenlit because of Transformers 3. I couldn’t find anything with Google. The only effect of this new Transformers’ success (which was a virtual guarantee) is maybe getting another Transformers movie. It’s not going to open the door to a bunch of toys being made into movies. It’s the 4th film-any effect from the franchise’s success has already happened.

Unless you believe that there is an infinite number of movies that are greenlit AND given wide release AND an infinite number of screens, the evidence is self-evident.

Blockbusters beget more blockbusters. Successful sequels beget more sequels. When a decent ‘original’ SF movie like EDGE OF TOMORROW has a flat opening, but sequels like TRANSFORMERS 4, WALK LIKE A MAN 2, 21 JUMP STREET 2 etc rake in the dough, again it begets more sequels than taking a “chance” on something original.

It’s simple math.

Producer • on Jun 30, 2014 3:09 pm

Finally, someone who gets it. I’ve worked in Hollywood for a decade. People in this town make what the audience demands. If the audience wants better movies, stop paying for the bad ones. Its pretty simple math. 1+1 always equals 2.

William Ackerman • on Jun 28, 2014 6:38 am

I’m sure the movie is crap, but at least it is giving the boring, weak summer box office a much needed jolt. If only X-Men, HTTYD2 or Edge of Tomorrow could have done these numbers.

paul schmick • on Jun 28, 2014 6:57 am

The reason Hollywood isn’t doing gangbuster business is because no one has any money. The economy sucks and has going on 6 years. Filmdom can’t bitch cuz u get what u wish for.

Anonymous 3%'r • on Jun 28, 2014 1:56 pm

No idea what you’re talking about; my income’s great. Very happy with the state of the economy.

And if money’s tight, then go see movies on a Saturday matinee for around $7-8, instead of on a Friday night for $12.

American • on Jun 28, 2014 8:12 pm

Could you BE more out of touch?

Anonymous • on Jun 29, 2014 3:42 am

$7 or $8 is still too much. Red Box for $1.50 or Netflix or HBO that is how you save money. Or just wait for the DVD to arrive at your local library and watch it for free.

Count Your Blessings • on Jun 30, 2014 7:56 am

I find it amusing how you guys in the US whine about $8 being too much for a movie ticket.

Try come to Australia where the minimum ticket is $18, but if you want proper sound on a proper screen, you have to pay $23, with 3D closer to $30.

nerdrage • on Jun 30, 2014 10:19 am

I can never figure out where these mythical $8 movie tickets are. Omaha maybe? Here in SF, the usual fare is more like $12 (more if you want 3D). So I go to maybe one or two movies in the theater per year and Netflix everything else. But $18 is obviously far too much, you guys are getting royally screwed. Prices like that would kill the American market dead.

paul schmick • on Jun 29, 2014 7:06 am

If u don’t know what I’m talking about Anonymous then obviously I wasn’t speaking to u and ur situation. I was speaking to the other 99.9% of the population…….u know the one who have seen gas and food prices double since 2009. Stay in ur bubble…you’ll be safer there.

Anonymous • on Jun 29, 2014 9:23 am

Adjusting for inflation, median household income is roughly 6% below the levels of late 2007. You may belong to the upper 50% but many Americans are struggling paycheck to paycheck. Theater owners depend on those under 25 to buy movie tickets and most of them are in the bottom 50%. So far the 2014 domestic box office is below the 2013 box office at this point.

Chucky • on Jun 29, 2014 2:36 pm

You obviously aren’t aware that the World Cup has affected moviegoing everywhere, even in the USA.

Alex • on Jun 28, 2014 7:25 am

Only $27 mill for “Jersey Boys” in week 2, stick a fork in it. Mixed reviews and a lack of interest from the 18-49 crowd doomed it from the start.

bmg615 • on Jun 29, 2014 5:53 am

Jersey Boys will gross over $40 million domestic. That’s definitely not a huge success, but it at least carries the distinction of being Clint Eastwood’s highest grossing film (directed only, not starring) in over a decade.

turnitup • on Jun 30, 2014 2:34 pm

That’s about as impressive as saying it has the distinction of being Clint Eastwood’s first movie in over a decade where I sat in the middle of the row instead of the aisle. It’s means nothing.

Christina • on Jun 28, 2014 8:06 am

Can’t even begin to express my disappointment that Transformers will make over $100M this weekend. I weep for the stupidity of humanity, but sadly it doesn’t even surprise me anymore.

CinemaScope is an absolute joke. Almost everything I’m hearing from critics and fans alike points to this being complete and utter crap. User ratings are plummeting fast on sites like IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, metacritic…. I would not be fooled by that A- CinemaScore. Godzilla had a B+ (one notch above) and it dropped like a stone. It’s a crock.

JamesQ • on Jun 28, 2014 9:51 am

CinemaScore is an absolute joke. Almost everything I’m hearing from movie-goers and critics alike points to this being a complete train wreck – user ratings are PLUMMETING on sites like Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, and metacritic. Godzilla got a B+ CinemaScore (one slight notch above) and it dropped like a stone. Fanboys skew it to a ridiculous degree. It’s a crock.

S4H1 • on Jun 28, 2014 12:21 pm

Cinema Score is just the fan-boys. It is a measure for the target audience of a film. It has no bearing on the reception by general audiences.

VatoLoco • on Jun 28, 2014 10:18 am

Transformers! The Movie!! Because Go-bots the movie would have been just ridiculous.

Anonymous • on Jun 28, 2014 12:09 pm

8 people walked out of the theater I was in. The movie is so bad. I give props to the visuals but Michael Bay is not a director – not when that is defined by directing actors, casting and telling a story.
His casting is always terrible. Yeah, an Irish kid who looks like Brad Pitt who happens to be living is rural Texas… Yeah, Wahlberg’s daughter who looks like a Maxim model…
Just utter garbage.

Robert • on Jun 28, 2014 5:47 pm

Ironically, the reasons you point out that Bay is a bad director, are exactly what makes him good. He knows his audience, and he knows that sex sells.

‘An Irish kid who looks like Brad Pitt’ (For the girls to look at)
‘Wahlberg’s daughter who looks like a Maxim model’ (For the boys to look at)

You say he’s not an actors director, but he is, just not in the way that you think; 90% of a directors work with actors is done in casting – cast the right actors, and they’ll do the job. Which is why Wahlberg, Tucci, Grammar, Jack Reyor and Nicola Peltz all account for themselves extremely well – they are all very strong actors.

Perhaps if you stopped judging Reyor and Peltz for the way that they look (How is this different from judging someone based on the colour of their skin?) you’d actually find that they have solid talent.

And along with asking it to be more realistic by casting more ‘normal’ looking people – perhaps you missed the part where this film is actually about giant robots taking over the earth.

American • on Jun 28, 2014 8:10 pm

Yeah!

And who wants to look at regular people at the movies? We see enough of them in real life.

Jack • on Jun 29, 2014 2:45 am

Sex sells?

People can watch all the sex they want (REAL SEX) online if their heart desires. For free nonetheless. People do not go to the movies to watch sex.

Chris Nolan doesn’t have one single sex scene, NOT ONE, in any of his movies and he is hands down the best & most profitable director working today.

Bay is terrible b/c he’s one note. He can’t make anything but big front-loaded action pics and nothing else. He has enough clout to make any smaller personal film he could ever want, but he doesn’t do so.

It’s b/c his creative spirit is shallow. He keeps making the same thing over and over and over again.

avidfilmgal • on Jun 29, 2014 9:25 am

Not that it matters Jack…but in one of the bloated batman movies there is a totally ridiculous “sex” scene between Bruce Wayne and Marion Cottiard (sp).
There will always be a market for these sensory overload films.
It really does not matter if they are good…big loud and empty is just fine .

Jack • on Jun 30, 2014 5:04 am

That’s not a sex scene. They show them kissing in front of a fire place and then cut away. Nobody went to the movie for that and there’s no nudity.

That’s the difference. Sure there’s “romance” in Nolan’s films. But it’s not necessary to show anything else b/c the audience gets it and they went for the story, not the skin.

As I said “sex sells” is 20th century thinking. We have the internet and it’s free.

Also, T4 was terrible and SOOOOO LONG. I can’t imagine anyone going to the theatre to see this twice.

Robert • on Jul 4, 2014 3:57 am

You’re being too literal, Jack. I said SEX SELLS without actually meaning that we were going to see two human beings start dancing the dance of the two backed beast in a Transformers film.

You then point out that Nolan has no sex in his Batman films as though this makes it morally superior to Transformers; Transformers has no sex. In fact, there’s rarely even been any kissing of any kind, let alone a sex scene.

So they show some girls in short shorts. Heaven forbid! There’s this thing called BEING A FUNCTIONAL HUMAN BEING, and sometimes that leads to being attracted to other human beings; which is why sometimes in cinema, being attractive is what sells tickets. Being talented works too, which is the case in Transformers.

what • on Jun 29, 2014 5:00 am

yeah, Nicola Peltz is such a good actress. Her acting in the last airbender was something to behold. I’m sure she’d have an acting career if her daddy wasn’t a hedge fund billionaire.

Of course, maybe it’s not her. She has been in movies directed by Michael Bay and M. Night Shyamalan. She only needs to be in a Mel Gibson picture to hit the Imaginationland trifecta.

Anonymous • on Jun 29, 2014 11:16 am

Robert, by your definition a good director is one that knows his audience and knows what sells…. so would the chef at Macdonalds is a good chef? Knows his audience, knows what sells and cooks for a very successful franchise.

GKG • on Jun 30, 2014 10:28 am

ANON,
Get a life other than Deadline comments, T- 4 is not real!! It is Entertainment!
Now fly away on your Unicorn…..wheeee…

Anonymous • on Jun 30, 2014 10:31 am

WTF? It’s still a great opening – especially considering it opened the week BEFORE the 4th. I usually see these on the 4th because I don’t like to deal with parking for fireworks and Michael Bay makes booms look pretty (I ignore the dialog).

I look forward to all the snobby comments when a film like Transformers does well. I have no interest in seeing it myself, but I don’t begrudge others enjoying the flick or the franchise. It’s a summer popcorn film…nothing more, nothing less. It’s not trying to be The English Patient, and it’s OK if it’s not.

turnitup • on Jun 30, 2014 2:32 pm

That’s the line used YEAR ROUND by people to excuse their adoration of crap that thinks for them so they don’t have to be bothered. “It’s just a fun summer read.” “It’s just a popcorn film.” “It’s just a fun Monday night of mindless tv where my girlfriends and I drink wine.”

The problem isn’t that this stuff exists, it’s that THERE’S TOO MUCH OF IT. And you’re a strange person for going to the trouble of defending a film you claim you have no interest in seeing yourself. You’re above the mentality, but you’re not above defending the mentality? How very democratic of you.

Last thing… it’s not The English Patient? Thank god you posted your comment because they almost had me fooled.

iCU • on Jun 29, 2014 1:32 pm

Screen Gems used Kevin Hart’s social media to galvanize a strong opening weekend, but what they didn’t bank on is that social media can also KILL a movie. Word of mouth was immediate that this movie was turd! 65% dip is telling. Producer Will Packer got a wake up call, that his golden goose (kevin hart) won’t feed him forever, so hed better start making some good film WITHOUT kevin hart in them.

Anonymous • on Jun 29, 2014 2:47 pm

I think Kevin Hart is fine – but also very overrated. He has one note and its gets tired after awhile….

GKG • on Jun 30, 2014 8:59 am

I can’t remember when domestic and foreign box office has been covered with such attention to detail, professional analysis and insights.

If you really want to learn something and want a future the film business, just don’t read the numbers, read the whole story and understand how the numbers came to be.

Great reporting Anita and Nancy ! To all the other “trade papers” this is how it’s done.

Anonymous • on Jun 30, 2014 9:28 am

“When will the industry see its first $100M weekend?”
And you wonder why the studios are so reluctant to make anything but comic book movies and sequels. Stop fetishizing the $100M weekend. Suddenly a movie that’s made for a price and brings in $100M over its run is nothing to get excited about. Ugh.

MimiB • on Jun 30, 2014 9:29 am

Let’s just be honest. This is not a good movie. It’s a big noisy spectacle without a coherent story or point. It appeals to the lowest common denominator of audiences, who truly could care less about story, coherence, acting and quality. I am all for pleasing a broad range of audiences, but what worries me is that studios, who are increasingly only in the business to make money, will not make better films in their rush to reproduce the cash cows like this one.

marv • on Jun 30, 2014 2:32 pm

this is a rude a statement. Just because people like these movies does not mean they are not smart moviegoers. They probably love the same films as you but this franchise is possibly a guilty pleasure for them. You are shaming people for liking a movie and that’s not right.

Blonde, Blue-Eyed Jesus • on Jun 30, 2014 10:11 am

I have the numbers in front of me.

The #1 spot at the domestic b.o. was claimed by “M. Night Shyamalan’s GoBots.”

Fact.

Get it right, Paramount, and stop lying, Hollywood.

If you need me, I’ll be drinking a Jolt cola in the public pool in downtown Carson.

zim • on Jun 30, 2014 10:47 am

What seems, to me anyway, to be effecting the gross cum, is the trend of theatres
offering reduced rate tickets as an ‘early bird special’ aka the ‘before 5pm price’.
This is usually about 2 bucks below the regular price. If the studios were to add
the 2 buck difference to each of the lower price tickets (particularly on opening
weekend) THEN they would break the 100mil barrier. Although it IS all about the money,
the cheap seats are killing their bottom line. If the studios could contract that
there would be no cheap seats for opening weekend, they’d get a better perspective
on the public’s desire to see the picture. I know it’s like comparing apples and
oranges. But people who want that apple are willing to pay 20% more to get it FRESH.
Another way would be to go by ticket sales totals, and work up an average ticket price
from it. That would give a dollar amount value to appease the investors, and a projectable
per seat- dollar value going forward. Just a thought.

JJ Evans • on Jul 1, 2014 9:44 am

Zim

With the ever escalating cost of admission and the fact that Paramount is taking 62% of the gross from exhibitors on Transformers, you are out of your mind in your thinking, Unless of course you just visit Manhattan theaters.

Rob J. • on Jun 30, 2014 11:11 am

When the movie is going to get that close to $100 million anyway, the Paramount execs who are apparently threatening a round of layoff should just stop being dicks about it and call the threat off.